


lovely

by EtherealBean2



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff, Naomi Scott - Freeform, Racism, Romance, Slow Burn, Swearing, discovering how to use powers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-28
Updated: 2020-07-19
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:33:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 16,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23365507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EtherealBean2/pseuds/EtherealBean2
Summary: Moving to the opposite side of the world was never on Safiya Sankar-Campbell’’s bucket list, especially to the small, unknown town of Hawkins but sometimes life doesn’t work in our favour. This would be hard enough for any person but for Safiya, it’s fair to say that things are a tad more difficult with a troubling past which led to huge consequences constantly hovering over your shoulder.
Relationships: Eleven | Jane Hopper/Mike Wheeler, Jonathan Byers/Nancy Wheeler, Joyce Byers/Original Male Character(s), Maxine "Max" Mayfield/Lucas Sinclair, Steve Harrington/Nancy Wheeler, Steve Harrington/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 7





	1. sunshine, nosebleeds and the boy with the honey swept hair

~01.08.83~

Fuck my life.

Those were the only three words that were pulsing through my mind as I stepped out of the plane in Indiana. The blistering foreign air hit me as if it were telling me I wasn't welcome. I was forced to tie my mother's jean jacket around my waist because of the horrific heat. That was the moment I realised I am now 4000 miles away from the familiarity that I call my home. Behind me remain the blustery, rainy weather, my friends who had been with me even through my tough childhood and the house that holds so many memories.

Don't get me wrong, I'm so grateful that my dad is able to be back working in the field where his passion lies after over 10 years but I never thought that I would fall victim to it. Moving to the other side of the world was the not the most popular item on my bucket list, especially to a small, unknown town.

Lugging our suitcases to the car dealership to pick up the new car, Dad encouraged me to look on the bright side.

"Listen beta, I know this isn't the most ideal situation for you but think of it as a fresh start...I think that it's a good idea to leave behind all the things that have happened in England and look towards a clear future." He turned to me with a soft smile, a light sheen of sweat shined on his forehead.

Guilt stung me as if Smaug scolded off my skin. I shook my head in annoyance of myself and smiled back at him. "Yeah, you’re right Dad."

As soon as we got the car and stuffed in our four huge suitcases, we zoom off to Hawkins, our new home.

~

Home sweet home. 

The suburban house that situated in front of me was nicer than I was expecting. The cream panelled walls contrast the dark doors and windows, starkly different to houses in London. We pulled up into the drive way and Dad let me do the honours of the first unlocking.

We stepped into the open space. "Not too shabby indeed," Dad muttered as he scanned the living room. "We definitely need to do some furniture shopping and redecorating but we can work with this in the meantime."

Wanting to see the house eagerly, I went upstairs quickly and noted two large en-suite bedrooms. That en-suite would be a life saver and I didn't even know it at that time. I helped Dad drag our things up the beige carpeted staircase and put them in our respective rooms.

"Let me help you unpack your things first Dad." I offered walking into the larger of the two rooms.

We spent the next hour pushing my dad's belongings into drawers and cupboards, making sure everything is as neatly organised as it could be, despite it probably not going to last very long.

"Blimey, I am really not liking this heat." Dad complained while pulling up his shirt sleeves.

Seeing the dark marks covering his once clear shirt, I said "I'll go open up the windows, hold on." I toured around the house, forcing open all windows. I reach downstairs when the doorbell rings. Curious as to whom it could possibly be, I sneaked a glance through the peep-hole. Wide brown eyes and curly heads are all that I could make out. I opened the door cautiously but am met with a bright grin.

"Hi my name's Nancy Wheeler and this is my brother Mike. We live just next door, over there." She nodded with her head. Her personality was just as pure as her appearance. The younger one, however, held a face that shows it was evident that he was forced to be here. "I hope we aren't too late to greet you as soon as you arrived."

"No don't worry about it. We just got in a couple of hours ago. My name’s Safiya." I stuck out my hand for Nancy to shake and she returns it gratefully. I do the same for Mike.

"You look around my age, are you starting Hawkins High School?"

"Yeah next Monday is my first day...not looking forward to being the new kid." I chuckled nervously.

"If you want I could meet you after your admission and show you around?" She offered kindly.

"That would be lovely, thank you." I smiled warmly.

"Oh, my Mom made you guys cookies. Chocolate chip."

"Did somebody say chocolate chip cookies?" Dad said finally coming downstairs and jumping into the conversation. "Wow they look brilliant, a big thank you to your mum!"

"No problem Mr...?"

"Sankar." Dad answered. He took the tray of cookies out of Mike's hands and put them quickly on the kitchen counter.

"Well we should be going, it was very nice to meet you Mr Sankar and I'll see you on the first day Safiya." She chirped and they waved goodbye as they made their way back to their house.

I shut the door and Dad said, "Why isn't that nice of them to do. I'll have to be sure to give something back to them."

"Dad you're a terrible baker remember?" I retorted at him jokingly.

"Well I know that but I'm an excellent chef." He stated with an entire cookie in this mouth. "Now these are good. I'm not sure your Dadi could do any better."

I smile in faint memory of my Dadi's fresh cardamom cookies.

Later that evening, Dad had to go into work for a few hours and I was left alone in the mostly empty house. I sunk into my bed, letting my thoughts take over me. I, being the introvert that I am, will most likely have nobody expect for Dad the whole time we're in Indiana. I'm going to be the weird foreign loner who only has a Dad and everybody will avoid me like the plague. Nobody is going to want to talk to me or even be next to me and there's nothing I will be able to do about that. I might as well just accept the fact now so I'm won't be disappointed when school comes. I cut myself out of this negative stream and reminded myself that Nancy said she'll show me around on the first day.  
Deciding to distract myself, I stuck on my Walkman and listened to I'm Still Standing on repeat while I began to sort out my bedroom.

Flitting over to the suitcase, I started throwing out all my jackets and shirts onto my bed to the tempo of the song. While banging my head on the offbeat, I hung the pieces clothing on hangers and tossed them into the new-ish wooden cupboard. By the time I had folded all tops and bottoms and all my shoes were neatly lined up against the wall, the light turned golden and began to cast soft shadows against the carpet.

"Well dad's not gonna be home for a while, I might as well go buy some food." I muttered to myself, grabbing my mums jacket and slipping on my shoes.

Dad had to take the car to work so I had no choice but to walk in the setting darkness in the unknown neighbourhood. I contemplated whether to knock on the Wheeler's door and ask for their help but I immediately dismissed the thought, not wanting to initiate a probably pretty awkward conversation.

I locked the door behind me and set down the road in the direction, of what I thought to be, the high road. Oh how wrong I was. I had spent the next 20 minutes walking down more residential streets praying to come across any shop at all. I was considering just giving up all together when I bumped into somebody that would soon become a huge constant in my life.

A maroon BMW 733i drove into the front of a very nice house. I stiffened slightly at the discomfort of possible confrontation. I quickened my pace however was stopped by a voice.

"Hey? Are you alright over there."

This was the exact situation that I was avoiding. Brilliant.

Having no choice but to turn to the stranger. I replied with a voice as put together as I possibly could muster, "Um...hi...yeah...I'm really sorry to disturb you but...er...I'm a bit lost..."

The stranger left the headlights of his car on and I finally looked at his face.

His hair was a perfect sweep of honey, not a single strand was out of place. The soft brown eyes stared into my own darker ones in concern. The beauty spots that dotted his face stretched as he frowned. As he walked towards me, his lean frame bore such confidence that I instinctively took a small step back.

How I wished that I knew at that point what this boy would mean to me in the coming years.

"You’re lost? How-oh wait-I don't recognise you, are you new to town." The boys asked in his perfect husky voice.

I hated now taken I was by this absolute stranger. I mentally slapped myself and answered, "Yeah, I literally just moved here today."

"Are you from England? I love your accent. I've never someone with an actual English accent before."

I chuckled. "Yeah I am. My Dad and I moved because he got a new job here."

"Nice." The stranger observed me for a moment and I tried not to feel too to self-conscience about it. "My names Steve by the way, Steve Harrington."

I stuck out my hand to the newly named Steve, "I'm Safiya Sankar-Campbell."

Steve had very kindly offered to walk me to the local supermarket and I found out he also goes to Hawkins High School. He, just like Nancy, promised not to be a stranger. This elevated my heart slightly and gave me hope of a possible lack of utter loneliness.

Departing from Steve, I bought all the essentials like: bread, milk, butter, cereal, meat, eggs, pasta and some fruit and veg. By the time I finally arrived home it was 8pm and Dad would be arriving home any minute. I put the pasta on boil and starting making a simple pasta sauce, trying to make a bit of an effort for our first meal in our new home. Dad eventually trudges through the door and into a chair on the dining table. I give him a quick hug and set the food on the table.

"Wow beta, I'm impressed. Thank you very much."

"It was the least I could do Dad...but I did use your card."

He threw a piece of tomato-less pasta at me playfully which I attempted to catch in my mouth, ending in utter failure.

"How was work?"

He hesitated, seemingly weighing up two options in his mind. I quirked my eyebrow at him and he budged.

"Listen Safiya, I wasn't sure whether to tell you this but...I think it'll be safer for you to be in the know." I braced myself for whatever was coming next. "Do you remember how the...accident happened?"

My mind flashes to that traumatic night.

"Yeah the explosion with the LSD." I croaked. Sometimes I forget about the effect it personally had on me because of the emotional distress it had caused my family. Despite my Dad being the cause, I knew it was wrong to blame him and I never have, he had no idea what would have happened.

"Well the lab had also dealt with the same chemicals and created people like you..."

My breath got caught in my throat and the rest of his words began to fade. I sat still on the table, my nails dug into my palms as I tried to force myself to calm down. Circles and circles ran through my mind, questions paced and shock stung me. I can't remember what exactly I was thinking in that moment but I do remember wishing to meet this person, greatly.

Dad ran towards me, seeing my worked up state. When this happens it's never good. He gripped my indented hand and began to sooth me. His soft voice gradually replaced the echoing questions and my mind began to relax. I snapped my head towards Dad and worry pulsed my mind.

I saw the trickle of blood that ran down his face.

I did that.

Repulsion hit me but Dad, having been in this situation before, spoke gently with me and hugged me until the guilt disappeared. He wiped the blood that fell from my left nostril and helped me into bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading the first chapter! I'd be so grateful if you let me know what you thought!


	2. pancakes, shakespeare and racism

~05.08.83~

There are times when you wake up in the morning and feel confident, like you could easily slay a whole army of orcs. Other days you feel the opposite, like you can't even hold a bow. Today I woke up feeling like the second one.

I stared at my newly decorated room, feeling more at home due to its familiarity. On the back shelves, I ordered my books alphabetically and hung LED lights underneath it. On my chest of drawers sat my record player and beside it a thick stack of all my records. I lined my walls with Polaroid's of myself, my family and my friends. Some of them are ones that my parents had taken when they were younger. My eyes linger of the picture of my parents on their honeymoon to Hawaii. Mum's starry, dark brown eyes mirror my own exactly.

My mind casted back to our first night here, I remember how guilt-stricken I was and how all I wanted to do was to apologise until the universe allowed me to reverse time. An incident like that hasn't happened in years and I honestly forget at times that I have these abilities. I thought back to the girl in the lab who had supposedly escaped. She might be close. She would be able to help me gain better understanding of my powers. I tried not to get my hopes.

Dad had already left for work but left me a plate of pancakes. A note laid next to it, my Dad's scrawl read: I'm sorry that I'm not able to see you off on your first day beta but good luck and I'm sure you'll be fine. I smiled at his small yet meaningful gesture and go to get changed for my dreaded first day.  
~  
The journey to school was a much easier one than to the supermarket. Thankfully, I managed to reach Hawkins High School without a hiccup and before the bell rang but the hurdle hadn't been jumped just yet. I still had no idea where to go for the enrolment. Probably again looking like a lost puppy, someone noticed my complete confusion and approached me. I saw the tall, thin, brown haired stranger begin to walk towards me and it gave me too much time to panic.

"Hey...you okay there? You look a little lost." He said just as awkwardly as I felt.

I tried my best at a smile and replied with, "Yeah...err...I'm not sure where to go for enrolment, I just moved here a couple days ago so..."

"Ah okay, you see the left of the building over there," he said pointing, "That's the main office. My name's Jonathan by the way."

"Thank you so much. I'm Safiya. My Dad and I moved from London."

"Wow London, this must be a change." Jonathan laughed.

"Yeah, it is." I chuckled, shifting on my feet. "Well, thank you again. I best be off, I don't wanna be late." I waved clumsily and walked towards the building he pointed out.

People here seem pretty nice, maybe it won't be as horrific as I was expecting. But I wish I hadn't thought so soon because as soon as I reached the admission office, the comments started.

"Hey what's this curry-muncher doing here?"

"Oh no, we've got a coconut on our hands!"

"Great, a Brownie is coming to our school now!"

I almost stopped in my tracks in shock. I've never faced such vile comments before in my life. Never once did someone in England so openly say something so horrid. I mean yes, I've definitely gotten uncivil looks and whispers but nothing as wide-spread as this!

As I walked through the car park, the sharp comments spike at me and I have to look down and bite my tongue to compose myself. Once the heinous people were out of ear-shot, I turned to catch a brief glimpse at them.

A group of five people loitered around a maroon car. A freckle-faced and spiky haired boy had his arm draped around a petite redhead. They laughed boisterously, not caring about the world around them.

I shook my head in dismissal and walked into the squeaky office.

"Can I help you, dear?" A blonde haired, middle aged woman asked tight-lipped.

"Yes please, my name is Safiya Sankar-Campbell, it's my first day."

"Ah yes, the transfer from England. Give me one second hon...and...here you are." She pushed up her pink rimmed glasses and pointed to the laminated sheet she just gave me.  
"First period is English Literature with Mr Wilson, room 8, block B."

I returned her falsely sweet smile and take in a deep breath, preparing myself to face the wrath of the racist American students but my saviour appeared in the form of a short, bony teenage girl.

"Safiya, I'm so sorry I'm late, Mike was being a total nightmare this morning and he caught me up. He just kept complaining about losing his...something - ugh, I can't even remember now."

"It's no problem." I said light-hearted, mostly just glad I won't be alone any longer. I handed her my timetable and pointed to the first block. "I have absolutely no idea how to get here."

"Oh my god! I'm in the same class, perfect!" She perked.

I hid my huge rush of relief that hit me like an axe in my back.

"Ah brilliant! I was so worried that I won't know anyone."

"Don't worry, you can hang out with me and my friend Barb."

We walked through the corridors and I surveyed the people around me. The mix of personalities was so stark due to the multiple different groups huddled together. Nancy and I made small talk about school and I have to admit, I am very glad she is my next door neighbour. I would’ve been so incredibly lost at that point and wouldn't have met the people that are closest to me.

"You really have to be rough with these," she said showing me my locker, "our school does not have enough funding."  
I pushed in my spare books and we set of for Literature when the bell rang.  
~  
"Why, hello there, Miss Wheeler! And is this our new student you have next to you? Come in, come in!" The plump, little man shouted enthusiastically. Already hating the attention, my heart sped up considerably. "Don't be shy, come in."

I finally walked next to him and stood in front of the blackboard. Whispers from the students started and I remember the group from the car park. My hands began to sweat unnaturally and I tried to discreetly wipe them on the hem of my mum's jacket.

"Well 'new student'," the man laughed to himself, "would you please introduce yourself to the class."

I blinked a few times in preparation to mask my nerves and said, "Hi everyone, my name's Safiya Sankar-Campbell. I just moved here from London." I say, beginning to hate my own repetition.

I could hear the racist remarks swarming at the back of the classroom but Mr Wilson seemed to be deaf of it. My cheeks grew warmer by the second.

"Well then, we all welcome you, Safiya and we hope you feel at home here in Hawkins!" Sniggers spiked through the air. "There's an empty seat on the second row beside Barbara, give us a wave Barbara, and that'll be your seat for this class."

Barbara, or as Nancy called her, Barb, was a pump, short-haired girl with round cheeks and gold-rimmed glasses. She smiled brightly at me, her pearly teeth gleaming and I returned one with significantly less enthusiasm.

"Okay everyone, this term we'll be studying the Shakespearean classic Romeo and Juliet and lucky for us we have our own English person with us now!" I give a small smile at Mr Wilson, hating how he referenced me already. "Let's take out our fresh copies and let's start reading with Act One."

As Mr Wilson went blubbering on reading the dialogue of Gregory and Sampson, I felt something hit the back of my head. I turned back with my eyebrows narrowed in annoyance to see a tall, muscular boy with a smirk on his face. I picked up the piece of rolled up paper that hit me and read it: Put on some perfume will you? The whole room stinks of curry.  
My mouth dropped in horror. The pure nerve of that boy! The anger overpowered whatever sense of dejection I felt and I spun back around and hurled it right back at his face. I bit back my tears and buried my head into my book as muffled laugher was exchanged behind me. I overheard Nancy telling them to "cut it out," and to "stop being so horrible!"

By lunch, I already hated everything about the school: the food, the inability of the teachers and most of all, and the students. The xenophobia was pretty widespread and I tried my best to ignore it.

Nancy and Barbara were sitting on a bench outside the school. On my way to them, I passed the spiky-haired boy and the petite girl who were up against a locker near my own. I rolled my eyes in exasperation.

Deciding to just fuck it, I walked passed them to my locker and immediately blocked out the harsh words but a different voice, one sweeter than the others, soon cut them off.

"Hey, guys, come on, don't say shit like that."

Steve Harrington.

"Come on Steve, lighten up buddy, it's just a joke, right brownie?"

I slammed the door shut and looked into his sun-kissed eyes, full of warmth and comfort.

His mouth twitched in response, teasing support on my end but those eyes dropped to the floor and he said nothing.

I breathe out a ragged breath and turn back on my heels, my heart thudding like the rain against the stone ground, cold and unfeeling.

I let out a dark chuckle, chiding my foolish emotions.

If only I hadn't been so set on my new opinion of him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you all so much for reading! please let me know what you think!


	3. friendships, flannels and the missing boy

~06.10.83~

Friendship is an arduous quest to embark on. With me having a tendency to be the quiet, invisible kid, becoming friends with Nancy Wheeler and Barbara Holland was a one in a million chance. Becoming friends with the equally as quiet and invisible Jonathan Byers, is rarer than the appearance of a blue moon.

During the first dreary Wednesday of life at Hawkins High, I ended up becoming lab partners in Biology with the scruffy boy as both of us (unsurprisingly) were the only two unpaired. Thankfully, the awkward babbling wasn't too unbearable as Jonathan was kind enough to approach me on the first day. He was probably hoping, praying for a chance that I wouldn't judge him as the rest of the school did but I didn't - of course I didn't and in the next three months, he became my coping mechanism for the absence of my dad at work.

Nancy, Barbara and I are still friends however Nancy started spending a lot more time with 'King Steve', as now I now know they call him, and she had become partially absent. Jonathan has oh-so-kindly been picking me up every morning from school on his way to dropping his brother, Will, off at school but on the days where he has to stay back late after-school for photography, I walk back with Nancy and it's mostly the same as before. 'King Steve,' the polished high-school jock, hasn't said a single word to me since the locker incident with Tommy H and Carol. So much for not being a stranger.

One horribly, sweltering morning, I was able to see Dad before he left for work. His bronze skin, an even darker hue due to the weather, shined in the sunlight as he scurried away at the hob. As soon as he caught sight of me, he swept me into a tender hug.

"My God, Saf, it's been too long since I've seen you in the mornings!"

"I know Dad...I know" I said solemnly but quickly changed the tone of my voice. "But hey, it's okay, you're here right now and that's all that matters."

He chuckled deeply and plated the slices of French toast on the kitchen table. "I'm trying beta, I really am but work is...intense and about work, today I'm going to be working through the night so I won't be home until tomorrow."

My mind flashed back to the girl with powers like mine and I began to feel the heat rising and bubbling within me. I crush the toast in my hand and slowly breathe out, barely containing the sensation inside.

"You okay, beta?" Dad asked, eyebrows furrowed together.

"Yeah - I'm fine, the food just went down the wrong pipe." I laughed, effortlessly lying. "What time do you have to leave today?"

"Soon but I just wanted to make sure you've eaten before I left. Is Jonathan picking you up?"

I nodded while picking up a strawberry.

"You've been spending a lot of time with him beta, is he your boyfriend?" He asked conspicuously.

At that, I truly began to choke, the strawberry become lodged into my throat painfully. I picked up my glass of milk and chugged it down while Dad gently hit my back, snickering at my violent reaction.

"Don't be silly! He's just a friend...promise." I added at his unconvinced face.

"If you say so," he said finally convinced. "Well, I have to leave now beta, just wash up for me." He got up, placed a kiss on my forehead, grabbed his keys and got into his car.

After a mini jam out session to The Clash with soap and a sponge, a car honked outside of my house which caused me to stick out my head to see the two familiar brunette heads of Jonathan and Will. I seized my backpack, hurriedly locked the door and ran down to the car, looping my arms through my bag.

Jonathan beeped again and yelled "Times ticking, Saf, come on!"

"I'm coming, fucks sake!" I cried back over the incessant horn.

Jumping into the front seat of the tattered car, Jonathan couldn't help but comment, "Saf, you've literally been wearing that flannel all month."

"Shut up, Byers, I haven't had time to shop, okay? You literally wear those jeans every day. You have no right to say a thing." I turn back to the younger Byers, "Will, don't worry, your style is impeccable." I said, earning a punch to the shoulder from Jonathan and a laugh from Will.

~

After the usual, fun day at school full of being called 'curry-muncher,' 'coconut,' 'brownie' and now that everyone has found out I'm from England 'teabag' which I just laugh at because out of everything they could have come up with they chose that, I return home with mountains of homework to climb. I ended up picking up some dinner at the local diner because of my tragic cooking skills but Jonathan told his lovely mother, Joyce, that I'll be alone for the day and offered to eat at her house for breakfast. Jonathan told me that it meant him making breakfast and that I'll probably only see Joyce for two minutes before she leaves for work. Nonetheless, I was grateful.

That morning, I left the house as the brassy orange began to stain the sky to make my 20 minute walk in crisp, silent bliss. The scene pained around me was so unlike what I had been previously used to, the almost sinister woods creep next to the road, the kids already sitting outside their houses and business on the road of the early day. 

Reaching the Byers household, I knocked lightly on the door and waited patiently while staring at the fairly tattered porch. 

The swung open abruptly causing me to nearly trip on the steps to the house. 

A short, ruffled-haired woman greeted me and instantly engulfed me into a sweeping hug. “Safiya, it’s so great to finally meet you, I can’t believe I saw your Dad at the store before you. Please make yourself comfortable,” she said with a sweet smile, beckoning me into her home. “And know that you’re always welcome here when your Dad’s at work.”

My heart melted like chocolate on a warm, summers day. I never thought that I would be so cared for by a woman that I barely even know. 

Mrs Byers disappears into the depths of her house leaving me with an over-worked Jonathan trying to flip four eggs at once. 

“Do you need some help there,” I laughed at his contorted face. 

“No it’s fine – just –“ He stops almost dropping the toast onto the floor. 

I got up off the dining room chair and grabbed the towel off his shoulder. I turned on the tap and began to wash the dirty dishes that he didn’t need. “You can admit defeat a few times in your life, Jonathan.”

He shakes his head and muttered a soft thank you. 

Suddenly, Mrs Byers zoomed back into the room in her work uniform looking even more discombobulated. “Where the hell are they?” She shouted, hands in her hair.

“Maybe check the sofa – couch, I mean.” I offered while taking a full plate off Jonathan.

“Oh…got them, thanks sweetie.” She smiled at me gratefully. 

“Okay Jonathan, I’ll see you tonight…where’s Will?” 

“I haven’t got him up yet, I’m – I’m making breakfast.” 

Guilt washed over me, I felt like I was intruding on something I’m not meant to. I sat at the edge of my seat, contemplating whether I should leave as they bickered back and forth.

Jonathan took a seat beside me and gave me a soft smile, “It’s fine, don’t worry.”

Mrs Byers stormed back with her arms wide. “He came home last night, right?”

Jonathan stiffened, “He’s not in his room?”

“Did he come home last night or not?” She asked, her voice rising slightly. 

Noticing the worry hanging thickly in the air, I said, “He definitely left the Wheelers’ last night; he rode past me and gave me back my Faber-Castell pencils around 8.” Fear flashed in Mrs Byers’ eyes and I quickly added, “Maybe he just left early for school?”

“Maybe,” she said softly, sharing concerned eyes with her son. 

~

"Hey...do you need some help?" A voice called out amidst of my frustration.

My history teacher was now eating for two and we're getting a replacement for the rest of year therefore me being the unlucky person that I am, had to go on a lonely wander to find our new teacher to give in my essay and our lord and saviour, 'King Steve,' had come to my rescue.

"I'm fine, thanks," I said curtly and began to turn away from him.

"Listen Safiya, I get why you would be mad at me, I promised you that day that I'll hang with you and - and you're mad at Tommy and Carol at what they've been saying and I - I promise you that I've told them to quit it but - "

"Steve...it's whatever. Can you just tell me where to find Mrs Scott?"

I caught Steve cast a dejected look to the floor but I forced myself to ignore it, he didn't deserve my sympathy.

"Erm - yeah - yeah...of course, it's this way." He said shaking his head and swiping a hand through his perfect hair. I mentally punched myself at my stupid thoughts. "Other than that...how do you like it, America I mean?"

I laughed at his stupidity. "It's alright, weird though, everything's different."

"Well that's our great country for you." He said in mock patriotism. 

“Yeah that’s what I mean, everyone is so oddly proud here like they’re personally responsible for everything.”

“It’s because of our grandparents and the Vietnam War, it’s all they go on about,” he put on a taunt voice, “Steven you should have seen it all in my day. There were street parties that went on until 5 AM and that’s how I met your grandmother.”

I blushed at the familiar tone of conversation from when we met, “That’s good; you could be a voice actor for Tweety if you just up the squeakiness.”

“Oh like this, is – is this better,” Steve said in a high-pitched drawl while imitating bird movements, well more chicken-like than anything. 

“Oh God no, that’s terrible. I changed my mind, it’ll be better if you just stick to Basketball.” I laughed.

He looked downcast at the floor, “…I wish I could, stick with Basketball but my Dad would never let me…” He shook his head and put his hands on his hips.

“Have you tried to tell him what you want?”

“I couldn’t, he would literally kill me if I did and my Mom always agrees with him.”

“Listen, I’m sure that he’ll think differently if you really spoke to him about it and tell him how you really feel. There’s no harm in trying.” I said softly, turning to face him. 

After a quick, polite conversation with the blonde teacher, I returned to the corridors to see a sight that made my heart drop to the fossils buried deep in the ground. Steve and Nancy were leaning up against the lockers in the deserted corridor in an affectionate embrace while kissing one another deeply. 

Nancy looked up and noticed me, instantly pushing away from Steve. She tucked her hair behind her hair and said with wide eyes, “Hey Safiya.”

“Hey,” I muttered awkwardly. We all started at each other for a few uncomfortable seconds until I said, “Well, I’m gonna go…thanks for taking me Steve.”

I began to walk away, my disappointment beginning to fade however Steve called me back. “Safiya, I’m having a party tonight. You should come.”

“Yeah me and Barb are gonna be there.” Nancy added.

“Is it just you guys..?” 

“Well…Tommy and Carol are gonna be there too but –“

I cut him off, “Yeah…I’m good…thanks for the offer though…” I said and walked back down the corridor to try to melt away the burning image of the two kissing. 

I found Jonathan standing outside the front of the school with a stack of leaflets buried in his arms. I run over to him and take half of them from him and into my own. 

“Thanks,” he stammered eyes puffy and swollen.

“Jonathan, we’re gonna find Will. I promise you, he’ll be okay. The police are doing everything they can right now and please; if you need anything just tell me. I’m here for you, okay?”

I pulled him into a soft hug and we walked into the school to pin up the ‘HAVE YOU SEEN ME?’ posters of Will.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Writing these build up of relationships was really fun. I hope you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed writing!


	4. flashbacks, explosions and a cup full of lsd

~09.10.83~

Ever since the accident, it has always been just Dad and I and that’s all I could ever remember. I have always been glad for never having to be truly alone but nowadays, loneliness seems to be as close as the awareness of my own heart beating inside of me. I feel terrible, so very awful of my selfish thoughts, especially since the disappearance of Will, but I can’t help my feelings, Dad has never been so absent. It was always fear that kept him close to me, fear of losing me just like he lost his wife but it seems like the importance of work has extruded me out. 

One evening, I felt the anxiety lace deep inside of me as if the worms had discovered a new food source. It was late, the sun had set leaving the sky a dusky, gloomy velvet and the streetlamps acted like a blinking black cat’s eyes and yet, Dad still hadn’t come home. 

I sat, my leg bouncing impatiently, at the kitchen table for hours on end, unable to concentrate on anything for longer than 10 minutes. Finally, a stream of yellow light seeped into the room from behind the curtain, Dad’s car. 

He walked in, his dark hair in a complete disarray and his clothes the most crumpled I had seen them. 

“Dad! Thank God you’re home. I haven’t seen you in two days, two whole days! You said you’d be home last night…you didn’t think at all to let me know? I was so worried…”

“Beta, I’m – I’m sorry…I was so busy…it completely slipped my mind…”

“So you just forgot about me?” I scoffed.

“Safiya, no…I just-I’m so sorry…”

“Yeah, well sorry doesn’t cut it this time Dad. I was so close to storming up to the lab and demanding to see you…to make sure you were okay…you’re the one who told me things are complicated!”

By then I was almost yelling in distress and when I stopped I noticed the damage I had done for the second time in only three months. This time it was even worse.

Dad’s mouth was covered in blood and his nose was streaming with the crimson substance. A puddle slowly formed onto the clean, white tiles. Drip. Drip. Drip.

~

~09.07.72~

My memories of this dreadful night that gave me these uncontrollable abilities are scarce. There are only fragments which are burned into my mind, forever reminding me of the worst incident to ever happen in our lives.

Dad was a young scientist at the time, spending most of his nights scurrying away in the prohibited room at the back of the house. Mum was always worried that he’d make a mistake because of his lack of sleep. She was always leaving a bottle of water and a snack outside of the door, she wasn’t allowed in either. He was very strict about the two of us coming in and rightfully so. 

One day, Mum was having a telephone interview with a big law firm that she’d worked incredibly hard to get. Since she was busy, Dad left to do the weekly shop. I remember how he kissed my Mum good luck as she sat wearily on the sofa. 

How I wish to this day that Dad locked the door to the out-of-bounds room…perhaps things would’ve ended differently. 

I sat in the living room as my jittery mother moved to the kitchen for her interview. I was trying to read an Elmer the Patchwork Elephant book but I heard a low rumbling sound coming from behind me. My young, stupid self, went on a daring wander around the house to try and find the source of the noise. Of course, the sound was emanating from the forbidden room. I pushed the heavy door open and fell face flat into the room, hitting my forehead roughly. 

The pulsing pain in my temples overpowered the murky scent that hung heavily in the air. Noticing a cup of liquid, my silly 6 year-old self drunk it, hoping it would dull the aching pain. What I found out only a few years ago was that it wasn’t water, it was liquidised LSD. 

While drinking the cup, the sound became deeper and more uncontrollable and a hazy smoke began to form in the room. A sharp shriek let out and Mum swept me up in her arms and rushed me out the house and into the front garden. At this point, tears were streaming down my face violently. I watched silently as Mum ran back into the house, hurriedly going to ring the fire station. 

Behind me, Dad pulled up into the driveway but…he was too late. A horrific BANG sounded and fire engulfed the house.

The last thing I remember from that dreadful night has stayed with me all my life. Mum’s eerie white face lying aghast on the floor of the restricted room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The backstory behind Safiya's powers is finally here! It's a bit of a short one but it was a necessary chapter. Thank you all so much for reading!


	5. cameras, birds and sisters

~14.11.83~

An awful and overwhelming feeling of regret lurked deep inside me like a poltergeist was hovering over me. If only I had said yes to going to Steve’s party I would have prevented two terrible things from happening. The first being my potent powers hurting my Dad. He has become so cautious around me now as if I were a porcelain doll and if broken would unleash the dangers of Pandora’s Box. I hate it. I want things to be back to normal but it’s my fault and sometimes we can’t always have the things we want the most. The second regret of not going to that stupid party is that I could have prevented Barb’s disappearance. The morning I walked into school and Nancy frantically told me she hasn’t seen her, I almost dropped to the rough ground and started sobbing. We spent the entire day searching for her helplessly but to no avail. 

This morning, I woke up and vowed that this day would be better than the last few. Oh how wrong I was. 

After a thankfully calm morning with Dad, Jonathan picked me up more solemn than usual because of Will. I tried my best to cheer him up but he was deep into the doldrums. I waited for him outside of the school dark room just before the bell rung and naturally, I had to have my encounter of the day with the slime-ball Tommy H and the fox that is Carol. 

“Lookie, lookie here babe, curry-muncher’s all alone…what a shame…Nancy’s abandoned you now that she’s finally seen the light that is Steve’s penis…” I nearly vomited all over his pristine, squeaky trainers, “…the original weirdo is too busy covering up his murder of his brother...” I almost punched him right in the face, “…and poor old Barbra is probably dead as well.” 

That was the last straw…some people honestly do not have a sense of what’s right and wrong.

“Listen here you freckled infected perv, say what the fuck you want about me, I’m used to it, I’m stronger than any shit you throw at me but I swear on any higher power that can kick your ass down to the depths of Tartarus where you and your tit-faced girl-toy deserve to be. You don’t talk that way around my friends.”

The two idiots scoffed and grinned angrily but Jonathan came out of the Dark Room so I grabbed him and pulled him down the corridor before the situation got out of hand. 

“What was that about?” He asked stuffing his photo’s into his bag.

“Nothing, I just put those little shits where they belong.”

Jonathan smiled at me genuinely for first time in a while. 

~

After Geometry with Mr I-can’t-teach-for-shit Shanty, Jonathan and I went to his car to go pick up some more copies of the Will posters but standing there beside it was Nicole, Tommy H, Carol and Steve. 

“What the fuck do they want?” I whispered to Jonathan, giving them all dirty looks.

He shrugged back looking just as confused as I felt.

I brace myself, not knowing what this confrontation will bring. My powers have been not under control lately, not that I’ve ever had them under my control, but they’ve been setting off at miniscule things. 

“Hey.” Steve said, sliding off Jonathan’s car. He glanced at me momentarily but returned his attention to Jonathan.

“What’s going on?” Jonathan asked, gripping the strap off his bag tightly. 

“Nicole’s been telling us things about your work.”

“We’ve heard great things.”

“Yeah, sounds cool.”

“We’d just love to take a look. You know, as…connoisseurs of art.”

I narrow my eyes, sensing their mocking tone. Jonathan grabbed my arm and led me towards the car whispering, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” 

Tommy H snatched Jonathan’s bag off him and Carol pushed me out of the way, knocking me harshly onto the floor.

“Hey, he must really have something to hide.” Steve muttered as Jonathan pleaded for his bag. 

I pushed myself off the floor and wiped my hands on my knees. “Stop being arseholes, just give his bag back.”

Steve didn’t even spare me a glance and started to flick through Jonathan’s pictures. I looked at Jonathan’s trembling figure and rubbed his arm gently. 

“Dude, what the fuck?” Tommy yells at Jonathan. 

“Yeah this isn’t creepy at all.” Carol grunted.

“I was looking for my brother.” Jonathan said. 

“No,” Steve begins, “No, this is called stalking.”

Nancy walked into the scene and glanced at me with questioning eyes. I stared back at her tight-lipped, the bubbling sensation started to rise within me.

“Here’s the starring lady.” Tommy H laughed. 

“This creep was spying on us last night. He was probably gonna save this one for later.” Carol smirked, handing Nancy the picture.

I looked back at Jonathan, he was almost shaking.

“See you can see that he knows it was wrong but…that’s the thing about perverts, it’s hardwired into them.” Steve said while ripping up the pictures. “So…we’ll just have to take away his toy.”

I was shaken by his cruelty, I had no idea he could be so horrible. My insides begun to knot into tangling vines, its thorns spiking my skin causing me tremble slightly. 

“No please…not the camera.” Jonathan said heartbroken.

“Come on Steve, stop it.” I whispered.

Tommy H held him back but Steve stopped him. “No, no, no wait Tommy…it’s okay. Here you go man.” He held out the camera for him. Jonathan rushed forward but Steve dropped it onto the floor with a deafening CRACK which matched the sound of Jonathan’s heart. 

The boiling inside me was threatening to gush out of me. “What the fuck is wrong with you? How could you be so horrible? Do you really have no empathy? His brother’s missing for fuck’s sake!”

“Aww Brownie over here is sticking up for her pervert boyfriend, how sweet!” Tommy H lulled falsely.

“You know…I bet that curry-muncher actually killed poor, old Barbara. That’s why she didn’t go to the party, it was the perfect opportunity.” Carol laughed.

Steve starred at the floor while Nancy gasped.

Feeling another outburst coming, I glanced at Jonathan solemnly then dashed out of the car-park, not risking further damage like I did to my Dad. 

I ran and ran and ran, the harsh wind slapping my face as if it was telling me off for leaving my vulnerable friend alone. But I did the right thing; I could have hurt them and I couldn’t do that even if they did deserve it. 

By the time I reached a metal fence under some power lines, exhaustion stung my mind and my body. My mind was aching after that terrible confrontation and I was almost burning. 

So I screamed. 

I screamed and released the pent up heat that had over boiled inside me. 

Silence rung around me and black objects fell from the sky. I jumped at the happening and fell to my knees, my body weak. One dropped right under my nose and I recoiled in horror. 

The mangled, bloody body of a bird laid with its feathers ruffled around it. I looked around to see at least half a dozen of them around me, all equally as twisted. My eyes stung as   
tears threatened to stream in a relentless gush but a voice called out to me. 

“Sister?”

I turned to the mellow voice and saw a young boy-no girl-with a shaved head wearing a navy jacket. 

“What?” I whisper, wiping my bloody nose with the back of my hand. “No…I’m sorry you must be mistaken…I don’t have a sister.”

She took a shaky step forward and repeated herself while pointing to the birds.

I started to panic. Fuck, she saw that. What am I supposed to do now? The only person who knows is my Dad. What if she tells someone? What if they figure out Dad did it? It wasn’t even his fault but he could still be thrown into prison!

I inhaled deeply, there’s so use in stressing, I just have to talk myself out of it…she’s only 12. 

“Listen, this wasn’t me…they were already here.”

She shook her head and pointed at me, “You.”

“Shit…no…no…it wasn’t…it was the pylons…there must have been power surges or something.” I said, finally getting to my feet. 

Nothing could have prepared me for what she did next. The shaven-headed kid reached out her arm to the dead bird nearest to me and it moved…

I jumped in a mix of shock and fear. She did that with her mind…she has powers like me. I looked back at her in awe to see her left nostril bleeding. 

“Sister.” She said once again. 

I shook my head and began to tell her again however I stopped as I remembered what Dad said on our first night here. There was a girl who escaped from the lab who had undergone LSD experiments. 

“You escaped from Hawkins Lab…right? It’s just up there,” I said pointing up the hill.

Her eyes widened and she stepped back hurriedly.

“No, no, no, no…I’m not with them I promise…I’m like you but…different…I’m not your sister…my Dad, he was experimenting one day at home and-and there was an accident which left me with these powers.”

“Not sister?” She said sadly.

“No, not sister but friend.” I stepped forward and offered her my hand. She looked me in the eye hesitantly but dropped her hand into my palm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New chapter! Safiya's finally met El and they've both seen each others powers!Thank you all for reading, please do let me know what you think.


	6. coffins, keys and midnight meetings

~16.11.83~

Meeting the girl from the lab was as if Zeus finally allowed the clouds to part and let the rays of heaven embrace the earth. With my powers being out of control, this hope I now have is staying close to my heart. 

She told me that she’s staying with the Wheelers and elated is an absolute understatement on how I felt. The kids, Mike and his two friends, were on their way and she told me to run before they saw what I did. I promised her I’d meet her again before I dashed back to school in time for lesson. 

I saw Jonathan in the corridors and I instantly engulfed him into a hug.

“I’m so sorry I ran off, it was so selfish of me and you needed me at that time and I-“

“Safiya, it’s okay, I promise.” He said holding my shoulder’s lightly and the incident wasn’t spoken about again until I accompanied Jonathan to pick out a coffin for the funeral after Will’s body was found.

Jonathan is a person who hardly ever expresses his emotions so openly but before we left that morning he sat in the car and cried. He cried and cried until his breath turned raggedy and horse and his eyes were bloodshot. I said nothing but rubbed his back slowly while he sunk into my arms. Once the tears ran out and his nose stopped running, I squeezed his hand and we entered the shop. 

I am not a person who copes with death easily. I guess nobody does really. I tried my best to support Jonathan and his mum as much as I could; Dad and I have dinner with them when we can and if we can’t, I’m always sure to send our leftovers and on some days I just spend hours with Mrs Byers just so she isn’t alone. I’ve been staying strong until I stepped into that store and memories of my Mum hit me like the arrow in Boromir’s chest. 

I remember that sorrowful day where she laid, face ashen and eyes closed, in the velvet lined coffin at the head of the dark room. My young-self stood, hand grasped tightly in Dad’s and stared with red, teary eyes. 

My mind was lost throughout our trip to the shop, my head pulsed in and out of focus but I was sure to keep Jonathan’s hand securely in my own, just so he knew I was there beside him. 

The man was talking about the different materials but I saw Nancy starting outside of the room. She smiled solemnly at me and mouthed ‘I need to talk to Jonathan.’ I nodded back and nudged Jonathan’s arm. I let go of his hand and gently pushed him out towards the door.

“We’ll just be one second.” I said softly to the man. 

I tugged Mum’s jacket tightly around my chest as I hurried out of the room, thankful to be out. 

“Your Mom…she said you’ll be here…” Nancy said uncertainly. The situation from a few days ago had still not been addressed. “Could we talk for a second?” 

The two of them sat on nearby bench looking at a photograph, the one that Jonathan took. I stood beside them, my back leaning against the scratched wallpaper. I glimpsed at the photograph, it had an odd figure in the corner of it, seemingly about to approach Barb. I stood silent; feeling like it was not my place to interfere. 

“It looks like it could be some sort of perspective distortion but I wasn’t using a wide angle…I don’t know…it’s weird.”

“Are you sure you didn’t see anyone else out there?”

“No. She was there one second and…gone.”

“The cops think she’s run away.”

I creased my eyebrows in confusion. “That doesn’t make any sense though.” I muttered. “She wouldn’t do that, that’s not Barb.”

“I know…” Nancy sighed and handed me the photograph. I started at the menacing seeming blob as if expecting it to spring to life any moment and capture the poor girl. “When I went back to Steve’s, I thought I saw something…like a weird man or…I don’t know what it was…I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have come here today. I'm so sorry.” Nancy grabbed her bag, shaking her head and got up. 

Jonathan stopped her, “What’d he look like?”

Nancy looked at him, confused. “I don’t know…” She stammered. “It was almost like he…like he didn’t have-“

“Like he didn’t have a face…” I finished off, staring at Jonathan with wide eyes. 

Just like Mrs Byers had said that night when I went to check up on her…

We hurried to the car and drove to the school, eager to enlarge the image of the weird creature. Since it was after school hours, I stayed outside of the room on look out, making sure we don’t get into trouble. 

I was picking at my nails when the caretaker shouted at me from up the corridor. I swore under my breath and knock twice on the door, signalling to the others that there’s a bit of trouble. 

I walked up the corridor slightly and hovered near a locked classroom, “I’m so sorry Sir but I left my keys on my desk. I just came to get them back but the door locked, would you be able to unlock it for me?” I smile innocently at him. 

He huffed but eventually gave in, “This is a one off, bad luck if it happens again.”

I scrambled into the random classroom and went to one of the back desks. I made sure he wasn’t looking when I softly dropped my keys onto the seat. 

“Ah here they are, thank goodness! Thank you so much Sir, it won’t happen again.” 

He huffed again and walked back down the corridor. I scurried back to the Dark Room and stuck my head in.

“Are you done?” I whispered. The two were awfully close together and I was going to tease them but they whipped back to me with terror written across their faces. “What is it?” I   
stepped into the room and Jonathan gave me the slightly moist sheet. “What the fuck.”  
~  
Jonathan dropped me home when the sky began to darken, just like the fear that has now settled into our hearts. The disturbing figure had been imprinted onto my brain, it’s long limbs wanting to reach out for my throat, it’s unnatural height easily able to chase me down and it’s empty face somehow staring into my soul. I contemplated whether I should tell them about my powers. Whatever that thing is…it isn’t a coincidence. There must be some sort of link between the lab, the girl and this thing. But I can’t tell anyone, especially when I don’t even know what’s going on. 

Dad was working late so he goes straight to bed as soon as he gets home, meaning he won’t check on me. At 10PM I grabbed Mum’s jacket and snuck out of the front door, making sure my bedroom door was locked. I walked round the side of the Wheelers’ house to see the short shaven headed figure waiting outside of the back door for me.

“Hey, you okay?” I smiled softly at her. 

She nodded her head and the corners of her mouth twitched slightly. 

“Shit, I haven’t even told you my name yet.” I told her as we began to walk down the street. “My name’s Safiya but you can call me Saf if you want. What’s your name?”

She looked up at me then pulled up her sleeve to reveal a small tattoo of the number ’11,’ gleaming in the streetlight. She pointed to her chest and looked back up at me. 

“Eleven…is that your name?” I asked, hiding the fact that I was shocked that she had a tattoo, which honestly, is the least surprising thing about her. 

“Yes…El.” 

“El is short for Eleven? Just like Saf?” I asked smiling.

She nodded once again. 

“So El, tell me, how come your staying with Mike. His parents don’t know you’re there, do they?”

Her eyes widen in fear for a moment. 

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell. I understand that you’re in a tricky spot right now and I’m just thankful you trust me. But how did you get there?”

“Mike found me.” She whispered.

“Where?” I asked her as we entered a light spot in the nearby park.

El pointed to the woods opposite us. 

“You escaped from the lab though the woods? Wow…how did you escape?”

She looked down at the chipped, wooden table, silent.

“It’s okay, you don’t have to tell me, don’t worry.”

She smiled up at me and said, “Thank you.”

“Anyway…I think…I think I should be open and tell you that my Dad works for the lab that gave you your powers…” The panic in her face flashed dangerously but I rushed, “Don’t worry; he had nothing to do with anything that happened to you. I promise, we moved here four months ago. He was the one that gave me my powers…”

“Your Papa?” She asked, sensing my shift of tone.

“Yeah…like I said when we met…my Dad was a young chemist, he loved to experiment and one day there was an accident which…which killed my Mum.”

El held my hand gently. I smiled at her, thankful. 

“Do you know anything about your parents?”  
She looked downcast once again and I was ready to swiftly change the topic but she said, “Mama” and shook her head them paused for a few seconds. She said “Papa,” with a shaky voice then nodded.

I was so taken aback by this information that I jumped, slightly scaring El. If her dad is around then why did she escape from the lab? Why isn’t she with him? Unless…

“El…”I started carefully. “Your Papa…is he the one you’re running from?” 

The look on her face replaced the image of the creature in my mind, instantly.


	7. funerals, basketball and monster hunting

~17.11.83~

The new information from Eleven about her ‘Dad’ kept me up the whole night, the pain that I felt for the poor girl whirled in my heart like the sea of monsters. I wanted to ask her so much more but I feared overstepping boundaries which could shatter her already fragile trust. I contemplated asking my Dad about it but it would jeopardise El and I couldn’t do that to her. 

The strange figure that Jonathan, Nancy and I found also haunted me. It could be anywhere and if it already took Will and Barbra, who knows what could happen next. With all this keeping me up, I decided to just continue reading Little Women and got lost in the whimsical world of the March sister’s.

It was difficult for me to leave for school that morning but I had to remember that I wasn’t the only one who was facing these problems. Jonathan was in an odd mood, odder than normal since the fate of his brother is uncertain. I didn’t really know what to say, the entire situation is completely bizarre. 

What was also pretty peculiar was after History, my teacher told me that Principal Richards wanted to see me. Nancy was with me at the time and we exchanged confused expressions. I hurried to his office, not wanting to be late and get into more trouble. But what trouble was I in? It could be because of us sneaking into school yesterday, or maybe he wants to see me about Barbara or Will?

I knocked gingerly and pushed open the mahogany door when I heard a muffled reply. Principal Richards was a fairly elderly man, at least a good 20 years older than Dad. His hair was streaked with silver and his glasses sat low on his crooked nose. 

“Miss Sankar-Campbell, please sit.” He said, gesturing to the chair in front of his desk. I sat down slightly wobbly, why the fuck am I here? “Don’t worry; you’re not in any trouble.” He said, noticing my troubled expression. I nearly whooped out loud right there. “I just wanted to ask how you’ve been settling in these last months.”

“It’s been fine sir, I’ve settled in pretty well.” I said simply, deciding that telling him about the grotesque racism would only make my life worse.

“Good, good, I’m glad. It must have been a tricky feat to overcome.

I nodded, sensing something else was coming, he wouldn’t have called me here just for that.

“Now, I’ve noticed that you haven’t got involved with any extra-curricular activities while being here. It’s an obligation for all students to do something on their first term and since this is your first year despite being a sophomore. In addition, I must send a report to your old school back in England about how you are doing and by joining a club; it would make this report sparkling along with those excellent grades.”

I internally screamed. I had no intention whatsoever to be a part of the fantasy that is the American high-school cheer. 

“What would I have to do then sir?”

“Well there as many options: if you play an instrument you could join the band, you could join the mathletes…hmm what else… the volleyball team, cheerleading, the school paper, robotics…”

“I’ll join the school paper if there’s a spare column.” I said quickly deciding that if I had to spend extra time on something, it might as well be something I enjoy. 

“Great! The sport section needs filling so that works out perfectly!” The man enthused. I internally groaned again, of all things it had to sports! “The main focus in our school is the basketball team. Haha as you know, go tigers! It’ll be necessary to attend all of their matches and practices sessions. I believe that Miss Keys, a senior, is the head and the editor of the paper, find her and she’ll tell you all you need to know! Now, that’s all finished…you’re free to go.”

“Thank you sir, I look forward to working on my section.” I said, easily telling a little fib.   
~  
The next morning was Wills’ funeral. I can’t even describe how I felt. The boy’s wide grin and bright brown eye’s every morning while we jam out to rock bands in the car, flashed through my mind causing my heart to ache at his unfair fate. The possibility that he’s alive stained my heart even more as if Flash phased right through it. 

Dad had no choice but to miss the funeral because of work but before he left he embraced me tightly and kissed my forehead softly. 

“Just be there for them, okay?” 

“Okay.” I nodded, him being blissfully unaware of the true complexity of the situation.

I pulled on my black dress, slipped on the only pair of heels I own and tied half of my hair into a bun. A honk outside signalled that the Wheelers’ were about to leave, they kindly offered to take me to the venue. I locked the door and made my way to my neighbour’s house. 

Mrs Wheeler hugged me gently and ushered me into the car. The ride was silent, I exchanged a few knowing looks with Nancy, catching on she feels the same as I do. I couldn’t help but notice Mike’s complete passivity, as if he did not care that his friend had died. I questioned whether they knew something like we did; I mean he is friends with El.

As soon as I saw Mrs Byers’ jittery figure, I hugged her quickly. I couldn’t imagine how frustrated she felt, she strongly believes that that body isn’t her son. I turned to Jonathan and softly held his shoulder as I stood behind him. The pastor versed his prayers and I stared solemnly down at the polished coffin. 

When the prayer was over, I grasped the yellow rose and threw it atop of the coffin. I pushed my hands into my coat and was about to enter the hall but Jonathan and Nancy pulled me aside. Jonathan pulled out a mall map of the electrical grid of Hawkins with three red crosses on it. 

“This,” he said pointing to three red crosses, “is where we know the thing has been.”

“Your house, Steve’s house and in the woods.” I listed off.

“Right, it’s all so close…” Nancy muttered.

“Yeah, exactly.” Jonathan sighed. “It’s all within a mile or something. Whatever this thing is, it’s not travelling far.” He looked up at us.

“You want to go out there.” I said uncertainly.

“We might not find anything.” Jonathan said.

“I found something.” Nancy insisted. “And if we do see it…what do we do?” 

“We kill it.” I said firmly, shocked at my own bold statement. “We have to.”

Jonathan got up off his feet and rushed over to his dad’s car leaving Nancy and I scrambling after him. He pulled open the glove-box and snatched out the gun. 

“Are you serious?” Nancy exasperated, looking around us with wide eyes.

“What? You want to find this thing and take another photo? Yell at it?” Jonathan said while getting out of the car. 

“This is a terrible idea.”

“Well, it’s the best we’ve got right now…we can’t let this…thing keep running loose. Who knows who else it could take.” I said with my arms crossed.

“And we can’t tell anyone, they’re not gonna believe us.” Jonathan continued.

“Your Mom would.” Nancy countered.

“She’s been through enough…I’ll tell her…when this thing is dead.” Jonathan said powerfully. 

“So when are we doing this?” I asked pulling my coat tighter against the wind.

“Tonight.” Jonathan stated.

“Fuck, I have to go to the basketball practice. If Principal Richards finds out I skipped he’ll kill me.” I groaned.

“We can do it tomorrow then.” Said Jonathan.

“No, we shouldn’t wait…you guys go out and I’ll meet you as soon as I can.”  
~  
After I changed out my funeral clothes that had a terrible smell of wet mud lingering on it, I made my way through the chilly breeze to the school to watch the dreaded basketball practice. Honestly, this is the last thing that I want to be doing, not when there’s a creature on the loose. Jonathan and Nancy went straight to the woods after the funeral and I’m stuck at the shit-hole that is Hawkins High School.

I groaned in frustration when I finally pulled open the heavy doors to the gym. There stood Steve Harrington with his perfectly swept hair and his stupidly perfect smile in his perfectly fitting gym clothes. I mentally flipped him off, still mad at him from the camera incident. I sat up on the bleachers and opened up a notebook, not that’ll I’ll probably write anything anyway, my mind was too overwhelmed with fear for my two friends and their date with the looming creature. 

I flipped to the back of my book and continued my drawing of the faceless man and I guess I zoned out for a while because Steve was sitting beside of me, peering at my drawing.

I snapped it shut then hissed, “What do you think you’re doing, Harrington?” I scooted along the seat to distance myself between him.

“You’re really good. You can draw, you can write, you get great grades…what can’t you do?” He said with a slight smile.

“Gee thanks, I now feel validated for my artistic skills.” I huffed while putting my things back into my bag.

He snorted but didn’t back down, “So are you running the sports article on the school paper?”

“Yep, I get to watch sweaty boys run around once a week, lucky me!” I rolled my eyes and began to leave.

“Safiya, wait…I owe you an apology.” He muttered. 

“I’m not the one you should be apologising to Steve.” I said simply.

“Yes, I should be because you don’t deserve all the shit you get from everyone and you shouldn’t be being pushed around like that. I-I’ve told them to cut it out but they’re stubborn and they think they’re entitled to do whatever-“

“They think they’re entitled to do whatever?” I questioned with narrow eyes. “…Steve…I’ve already told you I’m over whatever they say about me but at least I’ve got good friends…unlike you…”   
~  
By the time I left the gym, my heart was pounding in the cold autumn air; the sun had dropped leaving the sky a drape of a sparkling velvet curtain hidden in the back of a thrift shop. I shift into a slight run to keep the boiling inside at a controllable level. I need to be focused, we can’t get hurt.

I entered the woods and pulled out the flashlight I had found in one of the drawers in the Kitchen. 

“Jonathan? Nancy? Are you here?” I shouted out into the darkness while moving deeper into the woods. “Guys?”

I snapped my head around, hearing a crack of a branch from behind me, searching for the source. 

“Nancy?” I whispered. “Jonathan, where are you?”

My flashlight casted long shadows against the trees, causing my imagination to conjure up dozens of the face-less creature, terrifying me to my core. I was about to give up, figuring they found nothing and went home but something glinting caught the corner of my eye.

“The fuck…?” 

I stopped dead in my tracks. The bottom of one of the trees glowed menacingly with an orange substance webbing the entrance. I bent over and felt the sticky strings, getting it caught in between my fingers. I examined the hole closer, my nose dangerously close to the substance. 

That was when I heard the roar. 

It wasn’t so much of a roar now that I think about it; it was more of a screech. A high-pitched sound that made me drop to the muddy floor in horror. My body began to shake and I had to cover my mouth because of my raggedy breathing. I gripped my flashlight so hard that my nails dung into my dirty palm and slowly turned to the direction of the sound. 

The sight before me was unearthly. The creature that we’ve been trying to hunt stood towering and threatening in front of me. It had the height of two fully grown men and limbs as long as cue sticks. That wasn’t even the most disturbing thing. It screeched again and it’s head opened, unfurling flesh like a flower with its ‘petals’ revealing deadly teeth with twines of saliva dripping from each sharp one. 

At the second scream, my survival instinct kicked in. I pushed myself off the floor with my scratched hands and sprinted. I ran like my life depended on it…well it did. My feet pounded heavily on the ground, slicing through the fallen leaves. I couldn’t help myself but look back. 

That was the major mistake.

The head of the thing was only centimetres away from my own; it’s lethal teeth threatening to chew off my face without mercy. I slipped and my back hit the floor with a crushing THUD. I was whimpering in fear, certain that this was going to be it. I’d end up like Will and Barbara, God knows where they are.

I was panicking and my breathing was laboured when the bubbling began to rise again. I clenched my fists as its slimy, thick saliva dropped onto my cheek and that was enough to make me scream. I screamed like I was charging into battle, until my throat was raw and my voice turned hoarse.

It worked. The creature doubled over in pain, its own screeching mellowing into a wounded one. I pushed myself off my feet and forced myself to take trembling steps closer to the thing. It slowly backed away, its layers of skin disappearing. 

Once I ran out of breathe, I turned around and darted out of the woods and this time, I didn’t look back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading everyone!


	8. bear-traps, vandalism and blackeyes

~19.11.83~

I laid on the rustle of leaves on the forest floor, panting hard like I was midway through a battle. I was sweating and a dark trickle of blood slowly slid down my mud-caked face. I stared up with eyes of pure fear to the looming monster ahead of me. I managed to use my powers to get away with it, almost passing out of exhaustion and so I ran, hearing its screeches behind me as I dashed through the forest. I whimpered to be saved but the pounding of the creature’s footsteps echoed in my brain. 

I made it out of the woods and doubled over in fatigue but only for second then I forced myself to launch back into a sprint, fearful of the menacing demon. I reached the Wheeler’s house with my legs screaming in agony. I knocked on the door rapidly, desperately; the monster was still behind me. Nobody answered so I took it upon my desperate self to enter. Nobody was there. I yelled out for Nancy and Jonathan while darting up the stairs, almost tripping at my slow moving legs. I pushed open Nancy’s door to see the back of her and Jonathan’s head. I collapsed on the floor in relief. They turned back but it wasn’t the faces of my friends…they had the terrifying face of the monster. 

I gasped as I shot up in my bed, my head as hot as the pits of the underworld and sweat dripped down my sticky forehead. I raked my hands through my hair and I breathed in and out deeply. 

In and Out. 

In and Out.

In and Out. 

The speed of my racing heart finally calmed and I stopped trembling. What the fuck was that? That must have been the most horrific nightmare I’ve ever had. I don’t know what I was expecting with finally falling asleep after tossing and turning in fear but it certainly wasn’t that. 

The morphed faces of Jonathan and Nancy seared into my throbbing head. The image of pure nightmare fuel. The scene was so similar to the reality of last night but twisted in awful ways. After I took down the monster, I did run to the Wheeler’s house but Mrs Wheeler let me in yet, not without painstakingly checking that I was okay due to my wretched state but I insisted that I had merely fallen over.   
They were in fact in Nancy’s room but thankfully with their normal faces rather than the creatures. They rushed over to me and laid me down on Nancy’s bed but I refused and told them what happened. Of course I left out one minor detail and replaced it with the creature heard a sound from behind it and that gave me a chance to flee. As close as I am to them both, I was not ready to tell them. 

I finally got out of my bed, still clammy from the nightmare and got ready to meet Jonathan and Nancy. I hear a beep from outside so I grabbed Mum’s washed jacket and ran out the house and into Jonathan’s car. I stuck my hands into my pockets, remembering the therapeutic feeling of scrubbing out the pieces of dried mud in the deep creases in Mum’s jacket last night. It calmed me down and expelled the flashes of last night from my head. 

“Did you get any sleep?” Nancy asked from the front seat.

“No, not really.” I answered, staring down at my shoes.

“Me neither.” 

Jonathan pulled up on the side of the road and we walked into ‘Hunting and Camping.’ I bit my lip nervously as I surveyed the selves full of bear traps, chains and axes. Back in England, things like this aren’t nearly as easily accessible to the public, you wouldn’t be able to just walk into a corner shop and buy a rifle. I grabbed a fuel tank and a few other things that look like they could be useful in killing a creature from another dimension that nobody has ever seen before and piled them on the counter with Jonathan and Nancy’s stuff. 

We looked up at the man innocently, hoping he won’t find it odd that three teenagers look like they’re about to massacre a sleuth of bears. 

“What you kids doin’ with all this?” He asked after placed the boxes of the 38s on the counter.

“Monster hunting.” Nancy said smoothing. I thanked her social intellect, something that I would probably never gain.

After stuffing the heavy items into boxes, we went to stick them in the boot of Jonathan’s car. I placed my box in but then a realisation hit me, “Oh damn, we forgot to get chains.”

“I’ll go.” Jonathan said, shutting the boot.

“No, it’s okay, I don’t mind. I find the store…interesting.” I said, smiling oddly at the two. 

I made my way back into the store, feeling much less uncomfortable than I did the first time. I hurried to the back where wraps of chains all different sizes sat like metal pythons, leering at me, daring me to try and fight them. I shook my head and it’s slithering tongue’s disappeared so I picked up the longest, thickest one I could see and hauled it back over to the counter. 

The man stared at me, “What a fuel tank and 38s aren’t enough to kill your monster?”

“You can never be too careful.” I said.

After handing him the money, I get back to Jonathan’s car to find them nowhere near. I quickly put the chains in the car, getting even more odd looks than normal. Walking down the street, I peeked through the windows of the stops, seeing if they stopped by any others. Of course, my paranoia kicked in. What if they have already left me? What if they didn’t want to risk their own lives so they thought they’d let me do it? Why would they care about a stranger from London who only moved a few months ago? My eyes began to blur until I reached the cinema. In large, red letter the vulgar words read, ‘NANCY THE SLUT: STARRING WHEELER.’ My jaw dropped and my hands covered my mouth in shock. Who did this? I am speared out of my bubble when the sounds of sirens whined from behind me. 

I ran into the alley by the side of the cinema, only to hear the sound of thuds and grunts. There stood Jonathan and Steve, engaged in a heated fist-fight.

“What…?” I whispered to myself as I made my way next to an aghast Nancy as Steve throws a punch at Jonathan’s head. He barely dodged it and threw back his fist and smacked Steve right in the jaw, making him drop to the floor with a large cut on his lip. “Stop! Jonathan, this isn’t you!” I tried but Jonathan wasn’t listening. He repeatedly hit Steve in the face, again and again. 

“Cops!” The sleaze-bag Tommy yelled as they come running into the scene. Jonathan hit the officer in the nose as Tommy pulled up Steve from the floor. 

I stood with my arm around the hugely distressed Nancy who looked like she could break down any second. As Officer Powell cuffed Jonathan, Tommy and Steve ran with Officer Callahan trailing behind them. Steve looked back at me for a second and something flitted in his eyes but I couldn’t make it out as they had already fled out of the alleyway. 

“Nancy…what happened?” I asked softly as she breathed heavily with her face in her hands. 

“I-I slapped Steve and-and then he insulted Jonathan and his family then - then they got into a fight and – oh God I don’t even know…” 

“Hey…it’ll be okay…” I said, pulling her into a hug as I watched Jonathan lay breathlessly, stomach down on the hood of the police car. 

What are we supposed to do now? Our plans of killing the creature was put at a screeching halt now that we’ll have to go to the station because of Jonathan assaulting an officer and that Nancy is overrun with stress. I breathed deeply and tried to clear my mind, at least one of us has to be prepared for what is to come next.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally unloaded! So sorry for the wait guys. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter!


	9. fairy-lights, radios and pools

~19.11.83~

My past and my powers are things I have never told anybody about. Partly because I haven’t felt the need to tell anyone since they have been dormant for such a long time and partly because I have never felt close enough to a person to tell them. Even more so, is the fact that it isn’t only my secret to tell but when Jonathan, Nancy and I sat in the Byers’ living room with Chief Hopper, Joyce and the kids after getting back from the police station…I felt like I didn’t have a choice. 

“Okay so in this example, we’re the acrobat.” Mike said, holding up a piece of paper with a drawing on it. “Will and Barbara, and that monster, they’re the flea. This is the Upside Down, where Will is hiding.”

“Wait so the only way to get there is a rip of time and space. That would take a huge amount of energy.” I said, already feeling nervous. I remembered looking deeper into Hugh Everett’s Many-Worlds Interpretation after watching Cosmos a few years ago.

“Right and we tracked something to Hawkins Lab,” said Lucas.

“With our compasses,” said Dustin.

The rest of the adults in the room sat silent, clearly not catching on to what the kids where saying. 

“Okay, so the gate has a really strong electromagnetic field-“Dustin started.

“-which can change the direction of a compass needle.” I finished off, getting antsier by the moment. I tried my best to hide the fact that I felt that storm brewing inside of me. 

“Is this gate underground?” The chief asked, leaning back in the armchair wearing a serious expression.

“Yes,” said El suddenly. I had almost forgotten she was there.

“Near a large water tank?” 

“Yes.”

“How-how do you know all that?” Dustin stuttered out.

“He’s seen it.” Mike stated.

“Is there any way you could…that you could reach Will? That you could talk to him in this-“ Joyce asked.

“The Upside Down.”

“Down…yeah.” She whispered. 

“And my friend Barbra. Can you find her too?” Nancy joined. 

El nodded her head gravely at Nancy, causing her to breathe deeply at the sudden hope. 

Hopper began to get up out of his chair but the bubbling sensation had mutated too much making my hands and forehead sticky due to my progressively anxious state. Jonathan piped up next to me, sensing my shaking body. 

“Safiya, are you okay?” He asked as I jolted off the sofa. I began to pace around the living room, wiping my hands on my jeans therapeutically as somewhere in my racing mind I’ve convinced myself that it’ll make me feel better. 

I shook my head, rapidly. “I-I just think I need some fresh air.” I mumbled, turning towards the door as the images of the creature flashed through my mind. The memory of it’s thick, dripping saliva sliding down my mud-caked cheek and its millions of teeth on its face so close to ripping off my face only reminded me of the lack of control I have with my powers. 

As I stepped closer to the door, knowing I should really stop and tell them what I can do, a small hand grabbed mine and turned me around. The soft face of El looked up at me and I knew that she understood everything that was whirling through my mind. She nodded at me and squeezed my hand softly, telling me that it’s okay to trust them with my secret. 

I let out a shaky breath and walked back to the centre of the room. I looked at the bewildered faces staring at me, all not understanding why I’m worked up the way that I am. Eleven nodded at me once again and I knew I had no choice but to tell them, I owed them all that much.

“Um…” I started, trying to find the right words. “To put it painfully simple…I have powers too…like El but only I can-well I think I can-cause people and…things to feel pain.” I finally got out. The furrowed eyebrows of Jonathan and Nancy stared up at me and the chief put his face into his hands.

“But wait…how? It couldn’t have been like El…” Dustin asked, just as confused as the others. 

I quickly explained about the accident, eyes trained on the floor the whole time just hoping that Dad won’t be mad.

“So…yeah.” I said, my hands fumbling with the bottom on Mum’s jacket. 

“Well, now everything’s out in the open, let’s get on with this shit.” The chief said, finally getting up from the chair.  
~  
Eleven sat at the table, concentrating with the radio in front of her. The static from the radio filled the room, leaving all of us hanging on that very sound. I have to admit, I was distracted. Now that my secret was out, I felt even more vulnerable than when I was hiding it. I tried to just concentrate on the pretty dire situation at hand but the nagging was always there at the back of my head.#

The light flickered, causing me to jolt out of my thoughts. The static grew fainter as Eleven looked up at us, tears threatening to fall in distress.

“I’m sorry.” She whispered.

“What’s wrong? What happened?” Joyce stuttered, gripping Jonathan’s hand.

“I can’t find them.” El said her voice breaking.

Joyce covered her mouth to try and stop her sobs and Jonathan walked away from the table, raking his hands though his hair. I walked to Eleven and held her hand.

“Let’s go freshen up, you’ll feel better.” I whispered down at her.

I led her to the bathroom and turned on the tap. As she washed her tears away, I sat on the edge of the bathtub and rubbed her back soothingly. She breathed deeply and turned back to me, the water merging with her tears.

I grabbed the towel and handed it to her with a soft smile. “El, it’s not your fault. Don’t blame yourself, they’re still not lost. We can get them back. I promise.” I said, pulling her into a hug.

She sniffled and nodded her head looking up at me. Her eyes seemed to shift to focus on the bath behind me. 

“What is it?” I asked, turning back to look at the bath. 

“The bath.” She said with a sombre face, a darker memory surfacing. 

“What do you mean?” I asked her again, taking her hand in mine again.

“The bath, I can find them.” She said.

I straightened my back in realisation. “You mean like a sensory deprivation tank?” I asked her, having watched a fair few sci-fi movies where they used them. 

She nodded her head and we walked out of the bathroom to see them still settled by the table in deep conversation. 

“El knows how she can see them.” I said, breaking their conversation.

“The bath.” She said with a grave face.

“We can make a make-shift sensory deprivation tank, she’ll be able to try and find Will and Barb. Do you guys know anything about them?” I asked, aiming the last part at the kids.

“No, but I think I know who might.” Dustin said and walked to phone.

As he convinced his science teacher to tell him how to build them, Joyce turned to me and asked, “You could have told me, you know. I would have helped you.” 

“I know…I was just scared.” I answered softly. My heart swelled, thankful that she cared about someone she has only known for a few months. In some ways I think I was grateful to have someone so similar to a mother figure since I’ve been without one for 10 years. It was nice to feel that motherly love, something I hadn’t known that I missed.

“Well, I’m here for you if you ever need anything.” She said, holding my hand gently.

I smiled at her then returned my attention back to Dustin as he put down the phone. 

“Do you still have that kiddie pool we bobbed for apples in?” He asked Joyce quickly.

“I think so, yeah.” She shrugged.

“Good, then we just need salt. Lots of it.”

“How much is lots?” The chief asked.

Dustin looked down at his paper then back at us. “15,000 pounds.”  
~  
With Mum’s jacket wrapped tightly around me, I sat with Eleven in the Hawkins Middle School science classroom and slowly rubbed her back, keeping her as calm as possible. Joyce came back to us after rummaging through the cupboards.

“This will keep it dark for you.” She said, wrapping thick tape around a pair of goggles. “Just like in your bathtub.” She sighed softly. “You’re a very brave girl. You know that don’t you?”

Eleven looked away, tears swelling in her eyes again.

“Everything you’re doing, for my boy…for Will…for my family…thank you.” Joyce sniffled and took Eleven’s hands into her own. “Listen, I am gonna be there with you the whole time. We both will.” She continued, looking at me. 

“And if it ever gets to scary, just let us know, okay? We’ll get you out.” I continued, holding El’s shoulder. Even though the first time I met her, I told her I wasn’t her sister but I’ve never had a sister before and El, she feels just like a sister.

“Ready?” Joyce whispered.

“Ready.” Eleven said with a trembling breath.   
~  
Holding onto El’s hand tightly, I walked her into the hall where the others had set up our make-shift sensory deprivation tank. Holding a strong face, she took off her socks and Mike’s watch and put on the goggles that Joyce crafted together. 

I led her with my hand on her back into the pool, avoiding the splashes that flew out as she stepped inside. I sat beside Nancy as El lay down to float in the pool. I watched her with concern coursed throughout my body, the amount that she has to go through as a 12 year-old is something no one should have to do. 

The lights surged above us, leaving the room riddled with darkness except for the moon beams that illuminated the floating body of El. I watched, tense, as we waited for any signal from her, assuming her mind is now lost in the place she needed to be in. 

“Barbra?” She asked. I felt Nancy jump up beside of me and I touched her shoulder gingerly, feeling the same hope shock me. El began to breathe heavily and the lights above us flickered dangerously.

“What’s going on?” Nancy asked.

“I don’t know.” Mike answered.

“Is Barb okay? Is she okay?” Nancy said as Eleven started to get even more worked up.

“Gone. Gone. Gone.” El mumbled over and over again. 

My heart dropped and tears stung my eyes at the thought of one of my only friends being gone. Barbra was too sweet for the world; she didn’t deserve the fate that she succumbed to. I couldn’t let my thoughts drag me too far as I gently grabbed El’s arm, soothing her to let her know that we’re all here.

“It’s okay. It’s okay. It’s okay. Hey, it’s okay. We’re right here, honey. We’ve got you. Don’t be afraid. You’re safe.” Joyce said to her, calming down El’s rapid breathing. 

“Castle Byers.” She said. 

My eyes widened in hope of Will’s survival. One of them must be okay, he has to be. 

“Will?” She said after a few moments. Mrs Byers gasped beside me. 

“You tell him…tell him I’m coming. Mom is coming.” Joyce said, trying to hold a brave voice. Eleven repeated in a whisper. 

“Hurry.” A muffled voice called out. I turned sharply to realise it came from the radio. Will. I breathed a sigh in relief for Jonathan and Joyce. We’ll get him back. 

“Tell him to stay where he is. We’re coming. We’re coming, okay? We’re coming, honey.” Joyce repeated firmly. 

“Just hold on a little longer. Will. Will.” Eleven whispered, probably talking to Will in the Upside Down. “Will? Will! Will!” She began to scream. Eleven suddenly jumped up and yanked off her goggles, still breathing hard in Joyce’s arms.

“You’re okay, you’re okay. I’ve got you. I’ve got you honey. You did so good.”

I helped Joyce pull Eleven out of the pool and walked her over to the bleachers with the kids trailing behind me. I sat her down and held her arms.

“Are you okay?” I whispered to her.

She nodded her head softly and I pulled her into a tender hug. I left her with Mike, Dustin and Lucas and made my way over to Nancy.

She looked at me and choked out a sob. 

“Oh Nancy.” I said and embraced her warmly, rubbing my hand up and down her back. “I’m so sorry, Nance, I’m so sorry.”

“Why her, I mean, she didn’t deserve it, why did it have to be her.” Nancy said, still sobbing into my shoulder.

“I know Nancy, I know.” I said, not exactly knowing what to say as my heart panged with pain at Barb’s death. “But where ever she is now, she’s okay. She’s not down there no more, she’s okay.” 

“You think so?” She whimpered. 

“Yeah.” I said, partially trying to convince myself.

“We can’t let that thing live.” She said bitterly.

“Yeah, we can’t just sit here and do nothing with Joyce and the chief going out to get Will. We have to do something. For Barb.” I said.

“For Barb.”  
~  
Nancy went to go grab Jonathan so I went over to El to check if she’s okay.

“How are you feeling, better?” I asked, kneeling in front of the kids. 

“Better.” She said. She obviously wasn’t though; she shivered in the towel as Mike rubbed her arms trying to warm her up.

“That’s good, I’m glad.” I paused. “Listen, I have to go somewhere.”

Eleven’s eye’s widened in fear.

“No, no, it’s okay. I’ll be really quick and be back here in no time. I just need you to promise me you’ll stay here until I get back, okay?”

Eleven looked up at me and nodded her head.

“Okay.”


End file.
